H3 

"=-  E.  S.  LiBHARY.  Cop.  %  v--.  ^    «. 

CONNECTICUT  ^«  I  (*  I 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN« 


BULLETIN  161,  JANUARY,  1909. 


FEEDS,  SEEDS  AND  WEEDS. 

By  E.   H.   Jenkins. 


The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Con- 
necticut who  apply  for  them,  and  to  others  as  far  as  the  editions 
permit. 


CONNECTICUT  AGRICDLTURAL  EIPERIMEtlT  STATION, 


BOARD    OF    CONTROL. 
His  Excellent,  George  L.  Lilley,  Ex  officio,  President. 

Prof.  H.  W.  Conn,  Vice  President Middletown. 

Prof.   W.    H.    Brewer,   Secretary New  Haven. 

B.    W.    Collins Meriden. 

Charles    M.   Jarvis Berlin. 

Frank  H.   Stadtmueller Elmwood. 

J.  H.  Webb Hamden. 

E.  H.  Jenkins,  Director  and  Treasurer New  Haven. 


STATION    STAFF. 

Cheniists. 

Analytical  Laboratory. 

John  P.  Street,  M.S.,  Chemist  in  Charge. 

E.  Monroe  Bailey,  M.S.  C.  A.  Brautlecht,  Ph.B. 

C.  B.  Morrison,  B.S.  Clarence  W.  Rodman,  B.S. 

Laboratory  for  the  Study  of  Proteids. 
T.  B.  Osborne,  Ph.D.,  Chemist  in  Charge. 

Botanist. 
G.   P.   Clinton,   S.D. 

Entomologist. 
W.  E.  Britton,  Ph.D. 

Assistant  in  Entomology. 
B.  H.  Walden,  B.Agr. 

Forester. 
Austin  F.  Hawes,  M.F. 

Agronomist. 
Edward  M.  East,  Ph.D. 

Seed  Testing. 
Mary  H.  Jagger. 

Stenographers  and  Clerks. 

Miss  V.  E.  Cole. 

Miss  L.  M.  Brautlecht. 

Miss  E.   B.  Whittlesey. 

Miss  C.  A.  Botsford. 

In  charge  of  Buiidi)igs  and  Grounds. 
William  Veitch. 

Laboratory  Helper. 
Hugo  Lange. 

Savipling  Agent. 
V.  L.  Churchill,  New  Haven. 


FEEDS,  SEEDS  AND  WEEDS. 

BY  E.  H.  JENKINS. 

There  are  a  number  of  mixtures  sold  as  feeds  in  this  State 
which  contain  large  quantities  of  seeds  of  undesirable  and  pesti- 
lent weeds  of  which  a  considerable  portion  are  alive  and  will, 
under  proper  conditions,  promptly  germinate  and  grow. 

The  weed  seeds  are  not  always  quickly  detected  by  casual 
inspection,  because  they  are  variously  mixed  with  chaff  and  oat 
hulls,  with  linseed,  barley  and  corn  products  and  are  often  mixed 
or  smeared  with  molasses. 

These  facts  are  naturally  not  mentioned  in  the  statements  of 
composition,  yet  they  are  more  important  to  the  buyer  than  the 
chemical  analysis. 

A  moderate  food  value  may  be  granted  to  ground  weed  seeds, 
or  to  some  species  of  them,  but  it  is  very  doubtful  if  small  whole 
seeds  are  broken  up  and  digested  by  the  animal. 

It  has  been  proved  that  fermenting  manure  kills  many  weed 
seeds  when  they  are  kept  in  it  for  some  time,  but  common  experi- 
ence fulty  justifies  the  belief  that  the  farm  may  be  stocked  with 
weeds  which  come  along  with  the  manure. 

Weed  seeds  which  are  scattered  abundantly  wherever  feed 
and  feed  residues  are  scattered,  will  surely  make  their  appearance 
in  the  fields.  Thus  charlock  appeared  last  year  quite  abundantly 
on  the  station  land,  where  it  had  not  been  seen  for  twenty-six 
years  at  least.  On  searching  for  the  cause,  it  appeared  that  the 
junkos  or  snowbirds  had  been  fed  with  wheat  screenings  on  a 
flat  roof  in  the  neighborhood  during  a  severe  winter  and  the 
charlock  seeds  in  the  screenings  had  no  doubt  been  blown  from 
the  roof  to  the  lawn. 

Within  the  last  biennial  period  we  have  found  weed  seed  very 
abundant  in  the  feeds  named  in  the  following  table. 

This  table  shows  in  sufficient  detail  the  results  of  a  careful 
examination  of  the  samples,  made  by  Miss  M.  H.  Jagger  of  this 
station. 

There  are  given  the  total  number  of  seeds  present  in  each  pound 
of  the  mixture  or    "feed"    and  the  number  of  each  of  the  four 


connecticut  experiment  station  bulletin  l6l. 

Number   and   Vitality    of   Weed   Seeds 


Cost  per  ton  at  date  of  sampling 

Station  No 

Total   number  of  weed  seeds  per 
pound — 

Pig  weeds,  number  per  pound 

"       germinating  -.. 

Knot  weeds,  number  per  pound  . 

"       germinating- 

Charlock    and      black      mustard, 

number  per  pound 

"        germinating 

Bottle  grasses,  number  per  pound 

"     germinating 

Other  weed  seeds 


'5 

--'5 
.2 -a 

ill 

<< 

$28.00 

$30.00 

19874 

=.577 

11528 

7800 

3364 

4400 

1285 

ii83 

I814 

1 160 

522 

none 

378 
* 

320 
* 

5443 

1520 

3810 

912 

529 

400 

Molac   Dairy   Feed. 


$30.00    $29.00    $31.00   $27.00 
21577     19860  i   19847   21580 


5234  29324 

2217  I  II988 

199  2397 

705  648 


300 
* 

1612 

none 

400 


1490 

905 

13446 

8443 

1652 


6030 
2265 
521 
2355 
none 

362 
* 

670 
402 
378 


Undetermined. 


f  None  found. 


commonest  and  most  dangerous  kinds  of  weeds.  The  vitality 
of  most  of  them  was  determined  and  is  given  in  the  table. 

Seeds  of  the  false  foxtails  or  bottle  grasses  (Chcctochloa) , 
pigweeds  or  lambs'  quarters  (Chenopodiuni),  knot  weed  or  bind- 
weed {Polygonum),  are  found  abundantly  in  all  the  feeds  named; 
black  mustard  and  charlock  (Brassica)  are  abundant  in  most  of 
them,  and  ragweed  (Ambrosia) ,  the  worthless  panics  (Paiiicioii 
capillar e,  filiforme  and  sanguinale),  sorrel  and  dock  (Ritniex), 
the  common  and  Canada  thistle  and  catchfly  (Silene)  are  also 
found  in  most  of  them. 

Every  pound  of  each  of  these  mixtures  brings  to  the  farm 
from  five  thousand  to  eighty-six  thousand  seeds,  of  which,  in 
some  cases  a  hundred,  in  others  more  than  twenty-two  thousand 
are  alive. 

Certain  manufacturers  claim  to  destroy  the  vitality  of  the 
weeds  which  they  mix  with  feed,  but  in  no  one  of  those  above 
reported  has  even  this  measure  of  protection  to  the  purchaser 
been  thoroughly  done.  It  has  been  apparently  attempted  only  in 
case  of  the  sucrene  feeds. 


FEEDS,    SEEDS    AND    WEEDS. 

IN    One   Pound   of    the   Feeds   Named. 


$26.00 

19855 

22224 

2872 
603 

1514 
453 

8316 

3476 
5241 
2568 
1159 


Sucrene  Horse  Feed. 


Sucrene  Dairy  Feed. 


131.00 

■ 
$32.00 

$30.00 

19876 

21497 

19877 

8574 

2509 

27 

1622 

27100 

20680 

207 

1600 

8160 

2786 

128 

IIOI 

none 

* 

none 

453 
* 

160 
* 

192 
* 

3458 
103 
532 

4240 
509 
440 

3466 
3" 
615 

$28.00 

21486 

10360 
7120 

99 
1440 
* 

80 
* 

1360 

453 
360 


H.  J.  Flax  Feed. 


$25.00 

$28.00 

19703 

I976I 

48663 

21267 

31752 

I023I 

I38I4 

2250 

t 

705 

* 

1749 

II59 

* 

598 

14320 

8618 

6444 

4136 

842 

554 

$25.00 

21436 

86000 
41080 


1040 


1720 

774 

36440 

13118 

5720 


j^  Besides  3124  seeds  of  other  species  of  Polygonum. 


All  of  these  weeds  are  characteristic  of  grain  screenings  which 
are  the  refuse  separated  from  grain,  in  order  to  make  the  latter 
marketable  or  fit  for  milling.  These  screenings  vary  a  good  deal 
in  quality.  Thus  an  analysis  recently  made  here  of  wheat  screen- 
ings showed  about  33  per  cent,  of  flax  and  shrunken  cereal,  15 
per  cent,  of  foxtails,  8  per  cent,  of  bindweeds  and  pigweeds,  15 
per  cent,  of  weed  seeds  of  other  species  and  21  per  cent,  of  dust, 
broken  seed  and  sand.  Even  such  a  mixture  is  much  better  than 
many  others  which  often  contain  very  little,  if  any,  wheat  or  flax. 

An  average  price  for  screenings  is  $12.00  a  ton  in  Chicago 
or  $16.00  in  Connecticut. 

Mixed  with  molasses  and  chaff  or  hulls,  and  in  some  cases 
with  really  good  feed  materials,  some  of  them  sell  at  prices  which 
are  nearly  as  high  as  those  paid  for  first-class  feeds. 

Made  in  considerable  part  of  inferior  materials  and  charged 
with  weed  seeds,  they  are  dangerous  on  the  farm. 


6  CONNI-XTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION    BULLETIN    l6l. 

A  sample   of   Barley    Sprouts,    sent  b}-   a   prospective  buyer, 

contained : 

Barley   sprouts    70.5  per  cent. 

Weed  seeds    29.5    "       " 

1 00.0 

The  weed  seeds  were 

Corn  Cockle  ( Vaccaria)    14.0  per  cent. 

Wild  oats  (Avena  fatiia)   lo.o  "       " 

Bindweed    {Polygonum)    2.8  "       " 

Four  other  species  of  weeds   2.7  "       " 

295 

Further  particulars  regarding  the  presence  of  weed  seeds  in 
feeds  will  be  found  in  Bulletins  156  of  the  Maine  Station  and  131 
of  the  Vermont  Station. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

LYRASIS  members  and  Sloan  Foundation 


http://www.archive.org/details/feedsseedsweedsOOjenk 


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Connecticut 

Libraries 


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